Carol McGiffin says it's 'insulting and rude' to call someone a 'cougar'

Carol McGiffin hates being branded a "cougar", a term used to describe older women seeking relationships with younger men, as she finds it "insulting and rude".

The 60-year-old has been married to husband Mark Cassidy, who is 22 years her junior, for two years.

Speaking about her dislike for the word on Loose Women on Thursday, McGiffin said: "It's really quite insulting actually, it's insulting and it's rude.

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"Cougar represents something that's really predatory like chasing after, running down the street chasing after young men. I don't do that."

"I've never done that. Toyboy is even worse actually because it makes him sound like he's a plaything and I think everyone should just stop it. Stop with these stupid labels that everybody has to have," she continued.

It was only last year that the panellist revealed her secret 2018 wedding to Cassidy, to whom she had been engaged since 2008. They tied the knot in Thailand in February 2018 but chose to keep quiet on the lowkey ceremony.

They had planned to marry the previous year but called it off when McGiffin's sister Tracy died of breast cancer a few days prior.

McGiffin was previously married to DJ Chris Evans for seven years between 1991 to 1998, although they had separated some years before their divorce was finalised.

The media personality recently attracted controversy due to her views on wearing face masks.

She branded them “invasive and uncomfortable” and also said she would “go out of [her] way to not wear one”, to the surprise of her Loose Women colleagues.